


I Can Fix That

by grantaire_the_cynic



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Enjolras is a teacher, Grantaire works in IT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-24 02:39:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/934272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grantaire_the_cynic/pseuds/grantaire_the_cynic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>theydieholdinghands:</p><p>AU where enjolras works as a teacher at a highschool and grantaire works at the AV guy and enjolras is hopelessly lost among all the new technology and he has to call grantaire in every other day to deal with problems and grantaire being himself picks arguments with enjolras’ powerpoints and videos that he shows and they argue but he helps out and fixes everything anyways and eventually enjolras ends up just coming up with problems for grantaire to help him with and grantaire is all “i can fix that” and even the students ship them oh my gosh</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can Fix That

**Author's Note:**

> theydieholdinghands.tumblr.com posted that- and I wrote the fic :)

Enjolras looked around his classroom. His last school had only had a chalkboard- but now he had a SmartBoard, a TV system hooked into speakers mounted around the room- a DVD and a VCR, a CD player, and a cassette player, and an iPod dock. He looked over the TV stand, trying to figure out how to wire everything. He plugged things in in a way that looked right, turned on the TV and sighed. The picture was snowy and there was no sound. He surveyed the six remotes laying on his desk. 

Enjolras ran a hand through his hair and sat down and picked up the phone and dialed the tech extension. 

"AV desk, this is R, tell me what you can’t get to work."

"Uhm, hi, erm, this is Enjolras- the new history teacher, uhm, can you, I have this TV unit and I don’t think it has all the plugs."

Grantaire laughed. “I’m on my way- how many cables do you have?”

"Uhm- there is one black one and I think six of the red, yellow, white ones."

Grantaire walked into Enjolras’ classroom and had to do a double take. The man in the classroom was, well, beautiful. He mentally shook himself and cleared his throat. 

"You called?"

Enjolras looked up, “Yes, I did. I’m afraid I’m not good with electronics.”

Grantaire walked over to the TV unit and started hooking up wires. “I can fix that. So you teach history?”

"Yes."

"Is this your first job?"

"No, it’s my second. I taught two years at another school."

"Why’d you leave? Low pay? Horrible kids?"

Enjolras shook his head. “No, uhm, differences of opinion.”

Grantaire nodded and stood up. “Alright, your TV unit is hooked up. If you have the remotes, I can test it.”

Enjolras gestured at the remotes on his desk.

"I’m guessing you don’t know which ones go where?" He went through the remotes, grabbing a marker and labeling all of them. 

"You’re all set."

______________

The first day of school was hectic. Students got out early and Enjolras barely had enough time to get them all in his seats before they went to the next class. After his last class was dismissed, he sat down for a moment, collecting his thoughts before the afternoon meetings. 

He stood, facing his board, confused. He wanted to test a video he was going to show, but had only managed to turn the smartboard on. He shook his head and dialed the tech extension again.

"Tech desk this is R."

"What do you know about smartboards?"

"I’ll be down in 5." he walked into Enjolras’ classroom. "What’s the problem?"

"I can’t get the smartboard to work. I want to show a video, but, well, yeah."

Grantaire laughed, “I can fix that.” He messed around and pulled the video up. “You’re showing them this?” he shook his head.

"What’s wrong with this video?"

"One- it’s super boring. You’ll have them all texting under their desk in five minutes. Two- it’s outdated, so they won’t understand the references and comparisons they make. Save this video for later in the semester, when you’ve had time to introduce them to older colloquialisms. Check the PBS site- they just did a much better documentary, and it’s kid safe, of course."

Enjolras stared at Grantaire, dumbfounded. “I…how… What’s wrong with just explaining that they use old references before I show it?” 

"It’s the second day of school. They haven’t turned their brains on. And you’re a new teacher, so you have to win them over first. Trust me, go with the PBS documentary."

Grantaire walked out of the room, smiling to himself. Enjolras ran a hand through his hair and reluctantly pulled up the PBS website. 

_________________

Enjolras’ students laughed as he tried to pull the worksheet up on the smartboard. “Mr. Enjolras, just hit that key.” one kid said. he called the student up and after a couple minutes they still couldn’t get it to work.

"It usually works," the student said. "I think you broke it."

"Well, the worksheet is self explanatory. The front side is fill in the blank, the back side is a short answer. You can work with ONE, no Mr. Lewis not two or four, ONE partner. It’s due tomorrow when you walk in the door."

"Why does it have to be double sided?" another student whined. 

"Because there are at least two sides to every issue." Enjolras deadpanned. He lifted the phone and dialed for tech.

"Tech desk, this is R- no we haven’t fixed the internet screener so the computer labs are still closed. Sorry."

"What about smartboards that aren’t very smart?"

"Ahh, Mr. Enjolras, what a surprise." Grantaire quipped. He was getting used to these calls. "Smartboards are only as smart as their users."

"Funny, can you give me a hand? I need to get it ready for my afternoon classes."

Grantaire looked over everything, then laughed. “You have to have everything plugged in- it won’t work if it isn’t hooked up right.” he plugged the cord in and Enjolras’ slide show popped up on the screen. 

The students applauded. Enjolras laughed and dismissed them as the bell rang. 

"You should consider changing up the slides a bit. They all look the same. Same drab backgrounds and too many words, there’s like a paragraph on each. You ought to shorten them up."

"They need to be exposed to paragraphs, not bullet points."

"They are- in that textbook you make them lug home every day. Make it more user friendly and they won’t fall asleep on you."

"How do you know they fall asleep on me?"

"I work in the library. Kids talk." Grantaire shrugged and pulled up a website. "Here, give this a try- it’s like powerpoint, but better. It’s more visually interesting and gives the kids a road map before the presentation starts. Plus you can add pictures and videos with weblinks and you can print out a PDF version."

Enjolras watched Grantaire walk out of the classroom, high fiving a passing student. Something about R intrigued him. He shook his head and spent his planning period and lunch redoing his powerpoints. 

_______________

October was chilly, and Enjolras had finally figured out how to work everything in his classroom. The students, for the most part, had warmed up to him. He found himself sitting at his desk, grading papers, when the grading system crashed. Enjolras bit back a few choice words and was about to pick up his phone when he heard a knock on the door. He looked up and saw Grantaire walking in. 

"Checking on your computer- people have been complaining about the grading program crashing."

"Perfect timing. Mine just crashed."

Grantaire glanced down at the essay prompt while he was waiting for the computer to reboot. “You’re making them write about the enlightenment?” he raised an eyebrow. Enjolras frowned. 

"Of course- We’re studying it."

"Okay, let me rephrase that, you’re making them write a boring paper about the Enlightenment. Like- there’s so many ideas from the Enlightenment we use today, why not have them talk about that? They’ll probably turn in more interesting essays."

Enjolras stared at him, shocked. How did he know so much about assignments and classwork? “I… uhm, well, They have open ended essays, but I’m also preparing them for college and written tests.”

"I see." said Grantaire, "So you give them other papers that let them connect the classwork to their lives. Not a bad idea, mix and match."

Enjolras shuffled his feet, uncomfortably, and chewed on the inside of his lip. “Is the program working?”

"Looks that way. You’re good to go." Grantaire started walking out of the classroom. He turned back. "Look, I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job, really, I’m just, well, I’m just relaying what I overhear. Call me if anything breaks or crashes."

Enjolras nodded and thanked him curtly. He didn’t know why Grantaire was getting under his skin. He shook his head and continued grading papers.

_________________

Enjolras sat staring intently at the computer, trying to figure out why the website wasn’t working. He clicked a link, nothing, clicked another link, nothing. He laid his head on the desk in frustration and picked up the phone.

"Tech desk, this is R, I’m hoping this has to do with the left over Jimmy Johns in the lounge, because someone forgot to tell us about them."

"Sadly, no, what do you know about websites?"

"Well, they exist on the internet for a number of academic, personal, entertainment, and dubious uses. Why?"

An hour later, Grantaire (who was impressed that Enjolras had attempted creating his own page) had worked out the bugs, redone the page, and added cool fonts, text effects, and embedded videos and music. Enjolras stared at the page in awe. 

"Thanks, really, that looks great!"

"You’re welcome, it was nothing- nothing I’m not used to after getting a phone call at least once a week from you."

Enjolras blushed very slightly. “Sorry, if this is keeping you from something else, I’ll figure it out on my own next time.”

"No! No, that came out wrong! It’s actually saving me from a day of sitting in the library waiting for a kid to forget how to save in Word. And it let’s me keep an eye on a couple trouble makers who are actually really great kids who just need encouragement."

Enjolras nodded, “They’re doing better, though, since the start of the year. They haven’t tried to steal the USB cords from the computer lab recently.”

Grantaire laughed, “And you remembered what USB cords are.”

___________________

Second semester started out much smoother than first semester. Enjolras had spent winter break getting caught up on technology (something he had neglected in school in favor of various social campaigns) and actually got everything to work the first time. And he managed to get through a whole week with out needing help with any tech stuff. Then two. Then three. 

He was sitting at his desk at the beginning of February, slightly restless. He couldn’t figure it out. He poured over student work- flow charts mapping out the events that lead up to World War I- and for some crazy reason, had the urge to call the tech desk. But why?

"Tech desk, this is R."

"Is there a program that makes flow charts that look better than Word?"

Grantaire laughed softly. “You’re calling the tech desk for that?”

"If you’re busy I can google it."

"I’ll be down in 5."

"And then they can save it as a PDF and save it or print it, or do what ever they want."

"That’s pretty neat."

"What project are you doing?"

"An extension on their last- they’re mapping out the events that lead to WWII after the end of WWI, then we’re going to discuss them- find out why they included the events they did."

"Nice. But it all boils down to the allies blaming Germany for WWI and making them pay for it."

"Well that’s one factor, but there was also, economic depression, political change, Hitler, unfinished business from WWI."

"Which all resulted from Germany being thrown into sever depression from having to pay for the last war." Grantaire interjected. 

___________________

Enjolras’ new challenge, other than the typical challenges that come with teaching, was coming up with reasons he needed Grantaire’s help. He called about once or twice a week with random questions about Word, email, or anything else he could thing of. Around March, Grantaire began to catch on. 

"You know, if you want to hang out, you could just ask. Then we’d be able to do something more fun than make Prezis." He said after school right before spring break. 

Enjolras blushed. “I didn’t want to be unprofessional.”

Grantaire snorted. “There is nothing unprofessional about socializing outside of work. Look, tomorrow’s an early dismissal, it’s the first day of spring break, we’ll go out for a drink after school.”

____________

Enjolras laughed, sipping his Coke. “So you really had someone ask how to put a floppy disk into a USB port? I thought I was behind on technology.”

Grantaire laughed, “Well, you were a bit distracted.” he sipped his beer. 

"How do you know that?" Enjolras cocked his head to the side. 

"You and your group weren’t the only ones who liked that pub. I hung out there all the time. I heard you speak once and made sure I was always there."

Enjolras thought for a moment, then his eyes widened. “And you’d argue and debate all of my points.”

"So you do remember." Grantaire smiled. 

"Well, I have to say, you look alot different in khakis and a button down than you did in grubby jeans and a band t-shirt. Especially clean shaven and with your hair grown out and combed."

"Well after college I cleaned it up- figured it would be a good idea if I wanted work."

"It’s funny, I always thought you were an art major."

"I was a minor. I wanted to major, but my father wouldn’t pay for school unless I ‘majored in something worth wile’ or something like that."

"Oh, I’m sorry! That’s really crappy. Do you like your job, at least?"

"I like the kids. But that’s it."

"That’s it?"

"Well, and you."

Enjolras blushed. “Me?”

"Sorry! Sorry, was that too much?" Grantaire bit his lip.

Enjolras shook his head. “No. Not too much. Actually I, erm, well, would it sound creepy to say that I have been inventing problems so I could see you?”

"I had gathered that, honestly, but why?"

Enjolras bit his lip. “Well, I, uhm, I like being around you.”

Grantaire smiled. “This may be completely out of line, and I’m sorry if this is too bold, or something, but, when you say you like being around me do you mean,” he sipped his beer, “Do you mean like a friend, or…?”

"Or?"

Grantaire blushed. “or like, well,” he paused, “Do you like Olive Garden?”

Enjolras laughed. “Are you asking me on a date?”

"I, uhm, maybe?"

"Well I hope so, because I love Olive Garden, and, well, this might sound weird, but, I’m kind of alone, you know?"

Grantaire grinned, biting his bottom lip. “I can fix that. I’ll pick you up at 8.”

"I’ll text you my address if you give me your number."

______________

Grantaire raised his wine glass. “Here’s to the best first date ever.”

Enjolras clinked his glass and sipped his wine.

“You know the students have been talking about us?”

Enjolras paled slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Well, they have this thing they do when they’re supposed to be working, where they pair off all the teachers based on who hangs out alot and who they think are cute couples. We made their ship list.”

“Should I be worried? It’s not going to lead to gossip or anything?”

“Nah, they do it to all the teachers. They paired of Gordon- the gym teacher- with Suzy- the English teacher- because they have lunch duty together. Don’t worry.” Enjolras relaxed.

“Why? Is that… that’s not why you left your last job is it?”

“No! No, it was nothing like that! The school got rid of homework because students weren’t doing it. I didn’t agree.”

Grantaire laughed and shook his head. “Of course you did.”


End file.
